1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to multinuclear metal catalysts. In one aspect, the invention relates to said catalysts supported by an amine resin. In other aspects, the invention relates to a method of preparing and to various methods of employing these supported catalysts.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The art-recognized method (I) of preparing alcohols from olefins is a two-step oxo or hydroformylation process: ##STR1## The first step comprises contacting at elevated temperature and pressure, e.g., 125.degree. C.-175.degree. C. and about 3000-5000 psi, an olefin with synthesis gas (a gaseous mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide) in the presence of an oxo catalyst to produce a mixture of aldehydes. These aldehydes are then hydrogenated (typically in the presence of a hydrogenation catalyst) in a second step to their corresponding alcohols. Cobalt and rhodium are frequently used as the oxo catalysts.
Reported efforts to convert this two-step process to a highly selective one-step process have been singularly unsuccessful. Slaugh et al., J. Organometal. Chem., 13, 469 (1968), teach that a catalyst comprising cobalt carbonyl and a modifying ligand of tributyl phosphine affords a one-step, oxo synthesis of alcohols but accompanying olefin hydrogenation reduces yields (77 percent alcohol). Jurewicz et al., Adv. Chem. Ser., 132, 240-51 (1974) and Rollmann et al., Ger. 2,357,645, teach respectively that rhodium carbonyl supported on an amine resin or in the presence of tertiary amines also catalyzes a one-step oxo synthesis of alcohols. However, here too both research teams report suppressed yields (about 28 percent alcohol).